SOUTH AFRICAN TEEN WINS GLOBAL GOOGLE PRIZE FOR FRUIT PEEL INNOVATION

Sixteen-year-old South African teenager, Kiara Nirghin, has won the Grand Prize at Google’s Science Fair for her innovation – Fighting Drought with Fruit – which could hold the solution to the country’s water woes … using just orange and avocado peels!

The awards were held at Google’s headquarters in California recently. Kiara beat 15 international semi-finalists to win a $50 000 scholarship.

Before the awards, Kiara said that if she won she would use the prize to continue her studies in science and to “further the scientific development and application of my idea”.

Kiara’s innovation was inspired by the terrible drought which has gripped South Africa, its worst since 1982 – and involves using orange peels to create an absorbent material to retain water in soil.

She hopes that as it’s a cheaper and more environmentally friendly alternative to non-biodegradable super-absorbent polymers, it can be useful to farmers to save money and crops.

Kiara, a St Martin’s High School pupil in Johannesburg, revealed she had a natural curiosity and questioning nature which had led her down the path of science.

“I have always had a great love for chemistry since I was young,” she told the Google Science Fair. “I vividly remember at the age of seven experimenting with vinegar and baking soda solutions in plastic cups.”

The Google Science Fair is a global online science and technology competition for individuals and teams ages 13 to 18.